WPMT

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WPMT
Image:Wpmt logo.jpg
York / Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Branding FOX43
Channels 43 (UHF) analog,
47 (UHF) digital
Affiliations Fox
Owner Tribune Company
Founded December 22, 1952
Call letters meaning Pennsylvania Movie Time (station showed a lot of movies after becoming independent) or
Pennsylvania-Maryland Television (after rough area it serves)
Former callsigns WSBA-TV (1952-1983)
Former affiliations ABC (to 1963)
CBS (1963-83)
Independent (1983-86)
The WB (secondary, to 2006)
Transmitter Power 2140 kW/415 m (analog)
933 kW/385 m (digital)
Website fox43.trb.com

WPMT is the Fox affiliate broadcasting to the Susquehanna Valley area. Licensed to York, Pennsylvania, it also serves the cities of Harrisburg, Lancaster, and Lebanon. Its transmitter is located in Hallam, Pennsylvania.

[edit] History

The station began broadcasting on December 22, 1952, under the call letters WSBA-TV. It is one of the first commercially-licensed UHF stations in the United States, just over three months after KPTV, channel 27 (now 12) in Portland, Oregon, first went on the air. The station was initially affiliated with the ABC network.

In 1961, WSBA joined the Keystone Network, comprising of WHP-TV in Harrisburg, WLYH-TV in Lebanon, and WSBA. In 1963, it switched its affiliation to CBS.

In 1983, Susquehanna Radio, owners of both WSBA radio (currently owned by Cumulus Media) and WSBA-TV, sold the television station to an Idaho-based corporation, who changed its calls to WPMT and dropped the CBS affiliation in favor of being an independent station.[1] In October 1986, after the station was sold to what became Renaissance Broadcasting, it became one of the charter affiliates of the newly-formed Fox Broadcasting Company. In 1997, Renaissance merged with Tribune Broadcasting, WPMT's present owners.

[edit] Trivia

  • In the mid-1990s, WPMT featured original children's programming hosted by the station's mascot, a clown named Pete McTee.
  • Although this station had carried a secondary affiliation with The WB, cable systems in Lancaster County continued to import sister-station WPHL-TV as their WB affiliate until September 4, 2006, when WPHL dropped The WB in favor of Fox's new MyNetworkTV.

[edit] External links